Liontamer Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 Remixer: LXE Name: Alexis Gelinas Email: Website: instagram.com/lexadex_yo 38753 -- * Game: Super Mario 64 * Remix Title: Raga Koopa * Song Title: Koopa's Road * Notes: This was my exploration into the world of indian music. This arrangement features sitar, bansuri, tampura, and various hand drums such as tabla and ghatam. Hope you enjoy this unique take on the song :D -- Alexis Gelinas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 classic original. starts with tampura drone and flourishes in the flute and sitar. remix really starts at 0:37 to my ear. percussion drops a bit at 0:55 for the first presentation of the melody. it's a pretty thin texture here - the hand drums are very clear and crisp, and the sitar's doing its thing, and the flute's got the melody, and that's it. it builds up a bit naturally by adding in a larger variety of drum hits. 1:34 adds some vocals - are these you? this was essentially one run-through of the original. 2:07 goes back to the first escalating chord pattern. it's still a pretty thin texture here, but the more heavy reliance on the drone and using the flute for some more solo stuff is nice. there's some more exploratory stuff through this section which was a good change to stretch out the remix scope a bit. eventually the vocals come back in again. 3:40 is another break with some more flute soloing and then it's done. this is actually pretty tough for me. on one hand, there's some really virtuosic flute playing which is fun to hear, the hand drums are interesting and well-realized and super crisp and clear, and i really appreciate the really light soundscape due to the smaller number of instruments. on the other hand, it's basically twice through the chord progressions and then a drum hit for an ending, and the entire first runthrough is pretty conservative. the sitar is also not particularly idiomatic throughout, and there's even some of what sound like sample retrigger spots that don't sound realistic at all. overall i think this is above our bar. from a realization and mixing standpoint, i like the soundscape a lot, and the flute performance is really great with a ton of really fun flourishes added. i'd have loved to see more alexis in the realization of the melodic line, like what you do halfway through the second run of the melody, and less original - you clearly have great ideas, so let them out more often! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 This is brimming with creativity, it reminds me a lot of your Koopalings track in that regard - I never would have thought to take the source material in this direction, but now that I'm listening to it, I absolutely see how you made the connection and got here. The soundscape is sparse, and I do find myself wishing that the tampura drone contributed more to the bass presence of the song, but things start to fill out by the end. There are some imperfections in the sequencing and performance to be found as well; you straddle the line between unpolished and raw, but I think you fall on the right side of that equation more often than not in a way that evokes a live jam band improvising their take on Koopa Road. In the end, creativity wins out - a well-deserved gold medal finish for DoD and another one for the books Alexis! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Well, here's another genre I had to research in order to evaluate a submission fairly. Although I learned that rāga is more of a framework than a genre, so there's a lot of wiggle room there. But I still tried to approach my listening from the perspective of Indian classical music, which is can be quite minimalist, even moreso than this. From that perspective, this does everything it needs to do, in spades. It's a clever and complete genre transformation, well-realized. (I'm not as surprised as Emu by the direction—I'm sure I've heard Koopa's Road on sitar before, but I can't place it.) Nice original writing that fits right in, and fun riffs on the theme that keep it fresh despite the repetitive structure. Great job. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 The soundscape is definitely much more empty than would be ideal, but what is here is charming and well performed. Everything sounds very crisp, which is emphasized due to the lack of a proper bass during most of the arrangement, but the production is on point and mastering is appropriate. Definitely a unique and moody take on this source, I think it is great. I can picture this playing with a video of a sparse camel caravan trudging across a punishing desert landscape. Hhhhm, visualizer idea! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 Unique approach! And the longer track length allowed you to employ more variations and ideas, so good on you for that. :-) YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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